News

The Nation 01 February 2018 | Pratch Rujivanarom

REPRESENTATIVES OF the Thepa coal-fired power plant opposition group went to the United Nations offices in Bangkok yesterday to report their concerns about the project.

The group also emphasised in a statement that it would continue its prolonged peaceful demonstration in front of Government House every day until the government definitively revokes the 2,200 megawatt coal-fired power plant project in Songkhla’s Thepa District and withdraws its case against 17 activists.

Vietnam Net 31 January 2018

Alarming pollution readings were recorded in the capital of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in the previous year, heard a conference jointly held by the Green Innovation and Development Centre (GreenID) and the Vietnam Live and Learn Centre for Environment and Community in Hanoi on January 30.

Research from the GreenID showed that Air Quality Index, calculated based on the PM2.5 annual mean concentration, in Vietnam’s two largest cities exceeded the safe limit set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) many times. Especially, air pollution was rapidly deteriorating at the end of the year as low temperature resulted in slow distribution of dust and pollutants.

The Nation 31 January 2018

About 10 protesters sit on the footpath opposite Government House in Bangkok yesterday in prayer vigil urging the government to permanently scrap the coalfired Thepha power plant.

THE GOVERNMENT plans to shelve the proposed project to build the coal-fired Thepha power plant in Songkhla province, Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha said yesterday.

Bangkok Post 30 January 2018 | EDITORIAL

The cool season is usually the worst time of the year in Thailand in terms of pollution, and recent years suggest the situation is once again getting out of control. Last week, Bangkok saw the highest levels of dangerously unhealthy air quality since the bad old days of leaded gasoline and uncontrolled wood-cooking fires. Nowadays the literally sickening pollution in the capital comes from vehicle emissions.

The Isaan Record 30 January 2018 | Alana Brandt

RASI SALAI DISTRICT, SI SA KET – Over 1,000 people attended the annual rice ceremony in Rasi Salai District in Si Sa Ket Province last weekend. The event, rooted in a long history of Isaan agricultural traditions, serves as an important gathering for movements against development projects in the region.

Bangkok Post 30 January 2018 | Anchalee Kongrut

Coal-fired power plant protesters from Songkhla are planning to renew their efforts in Bangkok in the lead-up to the government's final decision on the matter.

"We decided to come back to Bangkok. Staying in Songkhla is tantamount to sitting and waiting for the government to give the green light to construction of the power plant," Madtayom Chaitem, a villager from a hamlet of fisherman in Thepha district, told media Monday.

Vietnam Net 29 January 2018

The Government Inspectorate has just published violations in the management of mineral extraction and processing in the northern province of Lao Cai.

The investigation which was carried out during the 2005-2015 period showed lax local management for a long time.

Bangkok Post 29 January 2018 | EDITORIAL

A study of Thai and neighbouring underseas life, published last week, proves beyond doubt that people are killing coral. Specifically, the plastic items that wind up in the area of Thai reefs is literally the death of coral. Ocean currents, sand and rocks bash and cut bags, bottles and trash to tiny bits. The coral, living animals, eat the plastic, choke and die.

The Nation 28 January 2018 | Pratch Rujivanarom

The first public hearing into a proposed Krabi coal-fired power plant project begins today without the involvement of opposition groups.

Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha ordered the entire Environmental and Health Impact Assessment (EHIA) study of the 870-megawatt coal-fired power plant project in Krabi to restart in February last year.

The Nation 27 January 2018 | PRATCH RUJIVANAROM

THE AUTHORITIES have come under criticism for downplaying the real threat posed by the recent air pollution in Bangkok, and urged the installation of a timely and accurate air pollution warning system to protect the people’s health.

Thailand country director for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, Tara Buakamsri, on Thursday said the Pollution Control Department (PCD) had failed to warn the public about the threat to their health from air pollution despite having real-time data on the pollution in Bangkok and other major cities – especially particulate matter with diameter of 2.5 microns or smaller (PM2.5).